"What's this?" Kirsten tugs the tiny box out of Cameron's hand, frowning at him. They'd been watching Linus and Camille in a cup stacking competition for the past fifteen minutes, when he'd suddenly pulled the box out from under the couch. It's small and square, wrapped in plain brown paper with an intricate red bow stuck on the top. The lines are immaculate, and she strongly suspects he wrapped it himself. Realizing the noise of cups against wood has stopped, Kirsten glances at Camille, and sees that both her and Linus have paused their competition to stare at her.
"We're going to go on a beer run." Camille mutters suddenly, gesturing for Linus to move. He gives her a quizzical look, but follows her as she leaves. He turns back to Cameron with a shrug and grabs his jacket off the back of the couch, the pair disappearing out the front door. Kirsten watches it all unfold, feeling a little uneasy.
"That's your Christmas present, Stretch." Cameron says, when they're finally alone. She sighs.
"I can see that. I thought we weren't getting each other gifts this year. Isn't that kind of the whole point of secret Santa?" She asks. She turns the box over in her hands, frowning at the weight of it. It's obviously jewelry.
"We uh, we weren't. But I saw this in a store and it was too perfect to resist." He scratches the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. He seems edgy, and a little nervous. Kirsten stares at him suspiciously.
"You're not proposing are you?" She jokes. He rolls his eyes.
"Don't flatter yourself."
She smiles. They haven't spoken about what she saw when she stitched into him. She isn't sure if he knows what she saw and is waiting for her to bring it up, or if he never really considered what she would see when she walked into his consciousness. Things haven't changed much, except that where they had been close before they're now all but inseparable. Kirsten spends more time at his apartment than she does at the house. She sets the box down on the table and gets up, walking over to rummage in the pockets of her jacket. She pulls out a nearly identical box and walks back to the couch, handing it to him. He takes it hesitantly, his expression one she can't identify.
"You got me a gift?" He asks. She shrugs.
"I got that before we decided to do secret Santa. They have a no returns policy, and I didn't think it would suit Linus." Her hand hovers over the box, fingering the bow on top. "You wrapped this didn't you?"
He frowns at her.
"Why would you assume"- She just raises an eyebrow, and he sighs. "Yeah. I had a lot of free time as a kid, okay?" Her eyes drift unconsciously to his chest. Sometimes she wishes she could see right through it, see his heart beating. She can still hear the sound of his flatline, it remains the worst thing she's ever heard. Her gaze snaps back to his face, aware he gets self-conscious when she stares.
"Normal kids played with baseball cards when they were sick." She suggests.
"What would you know about being a normal kid?" He asks, half joking, but seems immediately afraid he's gone too far. "I mean-"
"It's fine." She waves him off. "Nothing about either of our childhoods were normal. Come to think of it," She cocks her head. "-not much has changed." He grins at that.
"True. Now are you going to open that? Or does Temporal Dysplasia also give you x-ray vision?" He pushes her present towards her. She picks it up, inexplicably nervous. She tugs the ribbon off the box, and realizing the tape on the bottom of the bow is still sticky, she reaches over and sticks it onto his forehead. He blinks. Her face cracks into a wide smile.
"Would you focus?" He sounds even more nervous than before, and her curiosity gets the better of her. She sticks out her tongue and turns back to the gift. The paper comes off to reveal a grey velvet box, she doesn't recognize the name engraved on the top of it. She flips open the lid, revealing an oxidized silver pendant on a matching chain. It's a clock, the outer edge engraved with a double set of lines running the circumference of the pendant, the face white with silver hands. She brushes her fingers over the tiny piece of glass, staring at the silver numbers etched underneath.
"It's beautiful." She says, unable to tear her eyes off of it.
"It's a stopwatch." He murmurs. Finally, she looks up at him.
"What?"
"I mean you don't have to actually use it, but it works. You're always timing everyone using the stopwatch on your phone and I just-it's symbolic. Or something." His eyes are everywhere, the necklace, his hands, but he doesn't look at her.
"You were right." She pulls the necklace free from the box, brushing her hair over her shoulder and out of the way. She holds out the necklace to him, and turns to face the opposite wall. He gets the hint, lowering the chain over her head and fastening the clasp at the back of her neck. She thinks his fingers linger there for a moment, but then they're gone and it's entirely possible she imagined it. She turns back around, and his face has changed, green eyes soft.
"Right about what?" He asks.
"It is perfect." The sentiment is surprisingly sappy, especially from her, but the look on his face is worth it. His cheeks flame red, but he seems happy, and that's all that Kirsten cares about in that moment. She grabs the other box off the table, dropping it into his hand. "Your turn."
As she watches him, her fingers toy with the tiny clock against her chest. Her thumb runs over a ridge, and she can feel the hands fluttering as they tick seconds away. She must have accidentally pressed the button. As it continues to count down, she's only that much more aware of how long Cameron is taking to open his gift. She clicks the watch again, and the ticking stops.
"Take your time." She mutters, only half-joking. The pendant already feels like it belongs there, against her skin. Suddenly she isn't sure if the present she got for him is a good idea. He unwraps it more carefully than she did, gently peeling off the tape and folding the paper. She rolls her eyes. He makes a noise of surprise on finding a jewelry box inside. His is leather, embossed with only the letter 'C'. Glancing at her, he flips the box open, and looks confused when he finds a watch.
"You got me a watch?" He asks, eyes flitting between the box and her face.
"Well, so did you!" She says, suddenly defensive. He lifts the watch out of the box and holds it up for a closer look. The strap is black leather, matching the box it came in. The face is black as well, roman numerals set in platinum around the edge.
"No, I mean-thank you. It's amazing. But it's too much." He smiles at her, but there's still something behind his eyes. Confusion, almost disappointment.
"It's no Patek Philippe." She says, referring to the designer timepiece he picked up during the Lily Ross case. "But it is one of a kind. And you're keeping it. Like I said, no returns."
Cameron runs his finger over the leather, and she can tell he's admiring it. But something is still off.
"It's engraved." She tells him. He flips it over, and she knows the words he's reading because she chose them, but he reads aloud anyways.
Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?
"That's-"
"Tennyson. I thought you might know it." She smiles. He smiles back, and this time it's different, this time she swears she can feel the warmth radiating from it. "I thought it seemed appropriate, given what we do."
"Stretch, I…"He trails off, pulling her into a hug. Always shying away from them, Kirsten is surprised when she leans into it, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face into his neck. They haven't done this as much since his heart stopped, she's always so careful when it came to touching now. It seemed unfair to lead him on while she figured out her own feelings, and she knew from being in his head what he felt every time she reached out for him.
But this is nice, this is safe and comfortable and warm and she hadn't realized how much she missed it until now. Eventually, he pulls away. Her watch is silent against her chest, but she wishes she'd timed that. She wants to know exactly how long it takes to realize you're in love.
"Kirsten, this is-it's the best gift I've ever gotten. This is perfect." He goes to fasten it around his wrist, but she beats him to it, fingers tingling with electricity as they brush against his skin.
"I guess we both did okay." She muses, fingers curling around the pendant. "About the watch, there's one more thing." He waits. "I had the glass made with the quartz Solaris gave you. I know it's stupid but-" She doesn't get a chance to finish. His hands are on her waist dragging her into his lap as he crushes his lips to hers. He's everywhere, she can taste him and feel his fingers digging into her hip and he smells like cedar and black pepper and Cameron. She didn't realize she'd said his name out loud until his moaned hers into her mouth, and she shifted in his lap to lean back and look at him. It's like coming up from underwater and she blinks as the air rushes in between them, cold and jarring.
It takes a minute to steady her breathing, but she doesn't move from her position on top of him.
"Did you know?" It's all she can think to ask. She's trying not to be distracted by those green eyes, so much darker now than they were a minute ago. He snorts, but his hand is trembling on her thigh.
"Of course, Ace. Give me a little credit." Her hand comes down on his, steadying it.
"I-" She wants to say it, but she can't. The words are stuck in her throat, unfamiliar but entirely true. Cameron turns his palm up, lacing his fingers with hers.
"It's okay, Stretch." He's still smiling, still warm. She hasn't ruined this, at least. "You don't have to say it." She loves him all the more for that, even if she can't tell him. She drops her head onto his shoulder, shifting so that her back is against the armrest, legs draping over his.
"Thanks for the necklace." She says instead. He chuckles.
"Thanks for the watch. I guess we had similar ideas." She sighs and just breathes him in, feeling a million times lighter without this secret between them. Things are good, just like this.
Later, she wakes him up in the middle of the night to tell him she loves him. She doesn't know what exactly loosened her tongue, but it may have something to do with how he uses his. He says it back, of course he does, and is a little annoyed that she said it first. He can't stay mad though, not at her.
The next morning, Kirsten is confronted at the lab by a very excited Camille brandishing her phone.
"Oh my god!" She waves the phone in Kirsten's face. She takes it, blanching when she sees a picture of her and Cameron tangled together, asleep.
"Where did you get this?" She gasps, snatching the phone away. Camille shrugs.
"Linus sent it to me. He went over to see Cameron and found you guys like that. And oh my god are we going to talk about that, or are you going to tell me how it was?" The brunette leers at her. Kirsten suppresses a smile.
"I don't ask about your sex life." She reminds her. Camille rolls her eyes.
"Yeah but if you did I would tell you. Come on, give me something. Was it good? What's he working with?" Something seems to suddenly occur to her, and she clutches Kirsten's arm in alarm. "Did he make any weird nerd references?"
At that, Kirsten blinks.
"What? No." She frowns suspiciously at her friend. "Does Linus do that? Wait." She shakes her head. "Never mind, I don't want to know."
Camille is practically vibrating with excitement.
"We will talk about this later. Are you at least going to show me what he got you?" She asked. Kirsten's hand flew to her neck, the stopwatch nestled between her collar bones. Camille's gaze follows the movement, eyebrows shooting up when she sees it.
"Is that it?"
Kirsten nods.
"Damn. Not an engagement ring. I owe Linus fifty bucks." She leans in closer to inspect it. "Is that a clock?"
"A stopwatch."
"Oh. Oh. Awww." Camille's eyes soften. Just then the elevator pings, the doors open to reveal their favourite nerd boys. "Well howdy, cowboy." Camille greets Cameron. He stares at her in surprise, then his eyes fly to Kirsten.
"You told her?" He sounds shocked. Kirsten can't blame him, she has a history of keeping things like this to herself. She would have told Camille though, with or without Linus's interference. This is different than Liam, and she's different now too.
"No, actually. Someone sent her a very creepy picture of us in bed together." Kirsten swivels so she can stare Linus down. Cameron gapes at her.
"What?" He, too, turns to stare at Linus. "Are you serious?! That's really weird, man." Linus just shrugs.
"Nice watch, by the way." Linus mutters. "I seem to recall getting a Prince album when Kirsten was my secret Santa."
Camille snorts.
"You've been playing that thing on repeat for the last week. Besides, you're not sleeping with her." She grins widely. Kirsten is still looking at the watch, ridiculously pleased to see him wearing it. Suddenly, she realizes the watch she's staring at is telling her they're all five minutes late to the morning briefing.
"We're late." She says, breaking up the bickering that's started between her roommate and her roommate's lover. Cameron heads toward the meeting room, Kirsten close behind him. As they walk, Camille creeps up behind her.
"Just like, give me a number." She whispers. "How big is his TARDIS?"
Sighing, Kirsten slides her hands behind her back. She holds up all of her fingers, then slowly lowers two. Camille chokes. It's a good day, and Kirsten has a feeling this is only the beginning.